Photo Credit Belleville Township: Belleville's annual Winter Festival and Tree Lighting event had a new twist: the Letters to Santa station.

One grinning preschooler asked for a Lego set. Another girl in a pink hoodie wanted something simple, a pen. A tween put in a request for a new laptop, vowing she would only use it for schoolwork.

And a sixth-grader, Sophia, is hoping to find an electric guitar under her Christmas tree.

“It’s my biggest dream ever,” she wrote in her letter to Santa Claus. “I want to learn to play AC/DC songs. I want to make my own band just like them.”

Visions of rock concerts, toys, games and other gifts danced in the heads of an estimated 3,500 children of all ages who enjoyed Belleville’s Annual Winter Festival and Christmas Tree Lighting on Dec. 9 at Belleville High School.

The Mayor Michael Melham Civic Association’s ‘Letters to Santa station’ was a popular new addition this year, complementing the food, family and fun for all.

There was Yuletide cheer everywhere you turned, whether you were taking a horse-drawn carriage ride down Passaic Avenue, sampling zeppole, petting baby goats and llamas or getting a picture taken with a very busy Santa and a very patient Mrs. Claus.

Photo Credit Belleville Township: Mayor Michael Melham welcomed residents to come chat around his fire pit. It was a snowball's throw from the 60-foot-tall Christmas tree.

Photo Credit Belleville Township: Residents stopped and joined in with carolers at Saturday's Winter Festival and Tree Lighting event in Belleville.

Photo Credit Belleville Township: A petting zoo with little goats, sheep and other animals were one of the most popular attractions to Saturday's event.

Photo Credit Belleville Township: Mayor Michael Melham directing residents' attention to the tree just before he pushed the plunger to light it up.

Photo Credit Belleville Township: Councilman Thomas Graziano's family tradition has become a Belleville tradition. Graziano right, got help serving up roasted chestnuts.

Photo Credit Belleville Township: Santa Claus was a busy guy on Saturday, taking photos with kids of all ages in Belleville.

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